Gandhi statue to be removed from the University of Ghana
Mashad AroraIn a movement that resembles the protests around the naming of the Wilson School and the Wilson College at the University last fall, activists and protesters have succeeded in convincing administration to remove a statue of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi from the University of Ghana campus.The statue, which was unveiled this past summer as a gift from Indian president Pranab Mukherjee during a visit to Ghana, has had significant pushback during the past few months from students and professors alike who see Gandhi as discriminatory toward black Africans and promoting the caste system in India.The activists sent a petition to the university council at the University of Ghana to remove the statue, and the Ghana Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which intervened on part of the university council, agreed last Thursday to remove the statue from campus.Mantse Ayikwei, a supporter of the movement who works at the cultural network ACCRA [dot] ALT in Accra, Ghana said “a Gandhi statue should not be anywhere on African soil.”Ayikwei noted that Gandhi, when he was in South Africa, supported a 1906 British war on the Zulus and referred to black Africans using demeaning language.
